Better Public Services: Reducing crime

Resource information

Result 7: Reduce the rates of total crime, violent crime and youth crime

Why is this important for New Zealand?

Crime has a range of impacts across society. By delivering sustained reductions in crime and reoffending, we can further reduce harm and the social and economic cost of crime.

Video: The Hutt Valley Mobile Community Office

How will we know we are achieving this result?

Summary of results for the year ended June 2016:

The Government's three targets are to:

The total recorded crime rate has reduced by 15% since June 2011

The violent crime rate has reduced by 4% since June 2011

The youth crime rate has reduced by 33% since June 2011

By June 2017:

Reduce the violent crime rate by 20%.

Reduce the youth crime rate by 25%.

By June 2018:

Reduce the total crime rate by 20%.

These results were released on 5 October 2016 – refer to updated charts below. For more information go to the Ministry of Justice website.

Progress will be updated on this page every three months.

Reduce the crime rate by 20 percent by 2018

Our target is a 20% reduction in the total recorded crime rate from June 2011 to June 2018. This means around 58,000 fewer crimes annually by 2018.

This target was increased at the end of 2014 because the original target of a 15% reduction by June 2017 was exceeded.

The Reducing Crime BPS measure has two sub-measures, the Violent Crime rate, and the Youth Crime rate.

Reduce the violent crime rate by 20 percent by 2017

Our target is a 20% reduction in the recorded violent crime rate from June 2011 to June 2017. This means around 7,500 fewer violent crimes annually by 2017.

The total rate of violent crime has different drivers. To help understand what drives the Violent Crime rate, we have separated some parts of the violent crime data to show the impact of family violence, and in particular the increased rate of reporting of family violence in New Zealand.

Violent Crime committed in Dwellings – this measure is a proxy for trends in Family violence recorded by Police. Results show that the amount of violent crime committed in dwellings (homes) has been increasing steadily since June 2014 and is now at similar levels to June 2011. The indicators suggest this is being driven by more of the crimes being reported rather than more crimes actually occurring.

Violent Crime committed in Public Places – this is the bulk of the remainder of violent crime. Results show that the amount of violent crime committed in public places has fallen by 19% since June 2011.

Reduce the youth crime rate by 25 percent by 2017

Our target is a 25% reduction in the rate of court appearances by 14 to 16-year-olds from June 2011 to June 2017. This means around 1800 fewer court appearances by 14 to 16-year-olds annually by 2017.

Case Studies Result 7

Result 8: Reduce re-offending

Why is this important for New Zealand?

Reducing re-offending can create lasting change in the lives of the offenders we work with and their families and whānau. As well as better lives, it means safer communities and fewer victims. Breaking the cycle of re-offending will help to reduce the financial and social cost of crime in our society.

How will we know we are achieving this result?

The re-offending rate is measured against a baseline at June 2011. The measure takes into account the rate of re-imprisonment among prisoners within 12 months of their release and the rate of reconviction among community-sentenced offenders within 12 months of the start of their sentence.

Summary of results for the year ended June 2016:

By June 2016, the Government's target is to:

For the year ended June 2016, the re-offending rate has reduced by 5.6% since June 2011.

Reduce re-offending by 25%

This means that, by June 2017, we are aiming to have 4,600 fewer offenders returning each year, and around 18,500 fewer victims each year.

Reduce re-offending by 25 percent by 2017

To aid the analysis of the patterns of re-offending, we have calculated the number of reoffenders each year. Results show that the number of re-offenders has fallen steadily over recent years – and has fallen by 25% since June 2011.